Chapter 76 His Unyielding Spirit

A month later, Yang Shuhua set foot on the land of Lanchuan City again.

The airport exit was noisy, with foreign languages, Mandarin, and various dialects blending into a buzzing background sound.

Yang Shuhua had just stopped carrying her large white bag when she suddenly heard a mother and daughter laughing intimately. She turned her head and saw a mother and daughter snuggling together about three meters away.

Happy birthday, Mom.

"It's just a birthday, and he even made a special trip back from abroad..."

Yang Shuhua watched quietly until a taxi came to a stop in front of her. She looked away, her gaze falling softly on the smooth roof of the car.

As she got into the taxi, Yang Shuhua took out her phone from her purse. The screen lit up, displaying a photo of them taken earlier in Hyde Park.

Her gaze froze, a pang of sadness welling up inside her, a feeling that came over her every time.

For a full thirty-five days, her daughter didn't make a single phone call. Even when her aunt called the other day, the child's tone was indifferent, and she didn't ask about her mother at all.

"Auntie, where are you getting off?" The driver's urgent voice interrupted her thoughts.

She snapped out of her reverie: "Manhe Jiuli."

At midday, the roads were clear, and the taxi arrived at the entrance of the residential area in less than half an hour.

The car window rolled down, and the security guard recognized her, smiling as he raised the barrier. The car drove along the main road to the end and stopped in front of the apartment building.

Yang Shuhua paid the fare and got off the bus.

Yang Shuhua went upstairs and knocked on the door. A strange man opened the door.

The lease expired in the middle of the month, and as expected, the tenant had already moved out. Qiaoqiao didn't tell her anything. Yang Shuhua apologized, turned around, and took the elevator down to the garage. After retrieving her car, she drove straight to the shopping mall in the city center.

Upon arriving at the mall, Yang Shuhua walked into her usual children's clothing store, carefully selected six outfits, and the new sales assistant greeted her with a warm smile and offered to help her carry the clothes to her car.

On their way to the elevator, they happened to pass a tea shop. Yang Shuhua suddenly remembered that Chen Jiashu always loved tea, and his birthday seemed to be this month. She stopped involuntarily, turned and went into the shop, soon emerging with a box of carefully selected Longjing tea.

*

In the two weeks since he returned, Sun Gang has been running errands for Qin Qiao in Wanping Village and the police station so that she can focus on managing the business and getting familiar with the group's operations. He always returns with the latest news.

Xicheng Province is located in a mountainous area with towering peaks and complex terrain, which makes it easy to hide one's whereabouts. Although the police have had a hard time in the pursuit, they have never given up.

The news Sun Gang brought upon his return this time finally offered a glimmer of hope.

The police have located the hill where the brothers are hiding and have deployed drones and police dogs to quickly form an encirclement. He firmly believes, "There will definitely be results within three days."

As for the group, her entry into the finance department was not to provoke any disputes. All her actions can be summarized in two words: "guard" and "defense"—guarding the group's core assets and preventing anyone from taking advantage of the situation.

Then, we wait for Jia Shu to return.

After observing for half a month, Qin Qiao saw Zhu Ao diligently fulfilling his duties as acting chairman, striving to stabilize the situation. The email incident had once made her suspect whether Chen Jiashu's disappearance was related to him.

But upon calm reflection, Zhu Ao is now enjoying both fame and fortune. If he were truly behind the scenes orchestrating such a dangerous scheme, it would be tantamount to inviting disaster. If Jia Shu really runs into trouble, the first thing to be affected will be the group's stock price fluctuations and regulatory scrutiny. As the acting chairman, he simply cannot remain uninvolved.

But what if... all of this is exactly what he wanted?

Qin Qiao slowly leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, rubbed her throbbing temples, and let out a long breath.

I hope that's not the case.

Since Chen Jiashu's disappearance, Qin Qiao hasn't had a single night of restful sleep. In the past two weeks, she has been waking up frequently, sometimes unable to fall back asleep and simply sitting there until dawn.

Qin Qiao slept for a while, but was still awakened by the continuous vibration of her phone.

I groggily opened my eyes, swiped to answer the call, and held the phone to my ear.

"Sister Jing, what's wrong?"

"Madam, your mother has arrived."

Qin Qiao's fingers tightened slightly as Yang Shuhua's face flashed before her eyes.

The root cause of Chen Jiashu's disappearance can be traced back to his mother's wickedness and her own silence and cover-up, which indirectly led to it.

These days she had no time to think deeply about the future of her and her daughter, but could she really ignore Yang Shuhua? Yet, her mother's actions had undeniably hurt Jia Shu. If she forgave him now, where would she place him, who was deeply affected by the situation?

"I won't be home for dinner tonight, so you'll have to cook for one more person."

“Qiaoqiao…” Yang Shuhua’s voice suddenly came from the other end of the phone, obviously having taken the phone from Sister Jing. She added softly, “Mom is just here to visit Zhaoye, Xixi and Danie. Her plane ticket back tonight… has already been bought.”

Qin Qiao felt a slight tightness in her throat and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Yang Shuhua's voice rang out again, trembling slightly: "Jiashu... Mom is sorry for him, it was my fault."

On the other end of the phone, Qin Qiao remained silent. How sincere was that apology? The scene from that night flashed through her mind: Yang Shuhua's desperate attempts to deny it, and... after chasing after her, when she saw Chen Jiashu, Yang Shuhua was struck dumb, collapsing in panic onto the cold steps.

She was terrified, whether she was afraid that her evil deeds, which she had kept hidden for many years, would finally be exposed, or that Chen Jiashu would see through the despicable nature of her as a mother.

"I...I called Jiashu, but he didn't answer."

Qin Qiao's breathing became a little tight. Just as she was about to hang up the phone, Yang Shuhua's voice came through again: "I'm sorry to you all."

After that, Yang Shuhua hung up the phone.

Qin Qiao put down her phone and grabbed the water glass beside her. However, her arm was trembling violently, and even the muscles in her cheeks were twitching slightly. The water in the glass, which was only half full, rippled. She tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp, then slammed the empty glass down heavily.

*

Zhongqin brought food to Chen Jiashu for the fifth time.

She walked to his side and gently tugged at his sleeve. The man paused, then spoke in a hoarse voice, "You've come."

Chen Jiashu propped himself up on his knees, slowly moved to the table, bent down to find the bench, slowly pulled it open, and sat down sideways.

Zhongqin stared at him for a moment before walking over and standing quietly to the side.

He fumbled for the chopsticks, picked up the bowl, and quietly began to eat. He ate almost without making a sound, his movements were refined, but occasionally some food would still slip from the rim of the bowl, staining his collar or falling onto the table.

The main problem is that the bowl is piled too high with food.

After nearly a month in, this man had changed drastically. His once handsome and clean-cut face was now unshaven, and his hair had grown to below his ears. If it weren't for his striking features and fair skin, he would look like a homeless man.

A while ago, he had a head injury, pus was oozing from his left eye, and he gradually developed an unpleasant odor. Perhaps he himself could no longer bear it, because ten days ago, he actually took the initiative to ask to take a shower and wash his hair.

The uncle's family treated him very well. Upon hearing this, they immediately boiled a full bucket of water and carefully adjusted the temperature. The uncle, worried that he might fall, wanted to go in to help, but was pushed out by Chen Jiashu just as he reached the door.

The elderly couple, worried that something might have happened to him, paced back and forth at the door. After a long while, they heard the sound of rushing water coming from inside. In the countryside, a simple shower stall is set up next to the outhouse. You carry a bucket in, use a ladle to wet your body, apply shower gel, rub it in, and then rinse it off. But for a blind person, this is not easy.

The sound of water stopped, and it was quiet inside for more than ten minutes. The uncle stepped forward and was about to push the door open.

The door suddenly opened from the inside, and Chen Jiashu walked out wearing a newly changed sweater, with his other arm draped with his clothes.

"Thank you for your help." He said humbly.

At the time, Zhongqin was playing with her child in the yard when she was surprised to see the man's coldness and resistance. His sudden change of attitude surprised her greatly.

Just when she thought the man had accepted reality, last Wednesday, eight days ago, when she brought him food and grabbed his sleeve, he looked up at her and asked, "That day, when you fell at my feet, did that family often beat you?"

Zhong Qin felt a surge of nervousness, withdrew her hand, fiddled with the seam of her pants, and subconsciously glanced at the open door.

The man continued, "I have children too, three of them, six years old, about the same height as yours. A few days ago... I didn't want to live anymore, but then I thought of them... I've never even seen their faces clearly. Other fathers can play video games, play ball, ride bikes with their children—these are the most ordinary things, but I can't do them."

When he spoke of his children, a glimmer seemed to flash in his unfocused eyes, and his handsome brows relaxed completely, like snow melting.

Zhongqin's heart skipped a beat for no reason, and an absurd thought arose at an inopportune moment: if she had never set foot in this deep mountain, would she have met a man who looked like this and made her heart flutter on some ordinary afternoon?

“But they… have never looked down on me, their useless father.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I’ve already wronged them so much. If I give up even the identity of ‘father’… will they hate my cowardice when they grow up?”

The man turned his face slightly to the side, his empty eyes fixed on her face, and asked softly, "Is it the same as what you think?"

Zhongqin's heart tightened suddenly, and she hurriedly took a step back, but her knees slammed hard against the wooden stool behind her. The stool legs scraped across the cement floor, making a sharp "screeching" sound.

She leaned on the edge of the table with one arm, gazing at the faint smile on the man's lips. That smile was firm, brimming with the tenderness of a father and the deep, unbreakable bond between them.

Twelve years ago, she was too young. She met a woman at the restaurant where she worked who claimed to own a restaurant in Beijing. The woman was a regular customer and treated her exceptionally well. Once, when she was being harassed by a drunk customer, it was the woman who stepped in to help her out. As they became more familiar, the woman asked if she would like to help out at her restaurant, offering twice the salary she would receive at the restaurant.

She was tempted and followed the woman onto the train to Beijing.

She followed along without really understanding what was going on, even though she knew perfectly well that it wasn't a minibus at all.

Countless attempts to escape, yet she could never escape this box-like mountain village. Her right Achilles tendon was severed seven years ago. Later, her child was born, a girl, whom she named "Sweetie." But they didn't like her and forced her to have another child, threatening to kill the baby if she didn't.

But she just couldn't get pregnant.

Whenever the man brought up this matter after drinking, he would punch and kick her. Sometimes he would rush to Tian Tian's bedside, grab the child, and try to throw her to the ground. The child would cry, and she would cry too, clinging tightly to his leg and begging.

She gave up completely.

From then on, my only thought was to hope that Sweetie would grow up quickly.

"Is this the same as what you were thinking?"

Yes... she dreamed of escaping from here, but every scar on her body reminded her that only by obeying could she survive.

His child... his child longs for his return home day and night, but what about her sweetheart? Will she become another version of herself, struggling in this mire for the rest of her life?

Zhong Qin shuddered and hastily looked up, only to see the man still calmly 'looking' at her, waiting for an answer.

He comes from the world outside the mountains; he has an identity, and people will go to great lengths to find him.

A thought suddenly ignited within him: help him. If he fails, it's his fate; if he escapes... wouldn't that give Tian Tian a way to survive?

Moreover, she had a strong feeling that this man had a high chance of success. His keenness and intelligence were simply astonishing; he could deduce that she had been beaten for years simply from the fact that she had thrown herself at him with her daughter in her arms that day.

Zhongqin returned to his side and reached out to grasp his wrist. The man understood and turned his palm over.

She wrote very slowly, pausing after each character and waiting for him to nod before writing the next.

Six words: I'll help you and my daughter.

Chen Jiashu put down his chopsticks with a crisp sound.

Zhongqin's wandering thoughts were pulled back by the voice. Her gaze trembled slightly as she lowered her eyes to the few glistening grains of rice beside her rice bowl.

Chen Jiashu couldn't read long sentences, so Zhongqin would condense them when communicating with him. She wrote in his palm: "No wind tonight, let's act at midnight."